By Harry Barsan
No. 25 Louisville went down to Dallas and beat the brakes off of the SMU Mustangs.
Words cannot describe how dominant the Cardinals were, but an honest effort must be made.
Run out of the gym
A sizzling night from Chucky Hepburn was foreshadowed as he opened the scoring with a three-pointer to take an early lead, one which would never be relinquished.
Shortly after, Hepburn found J’Vonne Hadley to sink yet another deep-ball before the Mustangs could strike back.
After SMU pulled within two, Louisville would unleash a monster 23-6 run, featuring a pair of threes from both Reyne Smith and Hepburn and back-to-back slams from James Scott.
SMU entered a run colder than your average winter walk to a 9 a.m. class, as they went nearly 10 minutes this point with only one made field goal.
The game felt over by this point, and while SMU climbed back more or less, Louisville couldn’t miss a shot for much of this game and especially in the first half.
Louisville led 50-27 going into halftime.
When the stars are hot, it’s hard to cool down.
Extra reps
The Mustangs scored the first points of the half, but the Cards just kept rolling. They one on an 8-0 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to end any comeback hopes.
After SMU finally got back in the scoring column, Louisville continued their onslaught with a quick 13-6 run to surpass 70 before the Mustangs could even reach 40.
While the halftime deficit was indeed massive, SMU continued to play this half despite the daunting task. They even rattled off 8 quick points in just over a minute of play. Unfortunately for SMU, the Cards just weren’t missing, namely Smith who just picked up his eighth and ninth threes of the night to make it a 30-point advantage.
Smith’s ninth triple tied the single-game Louisville record for threes in a game set in 2003 by Taquan Dean, and on one of the final possessions of the game Smith notched his 10th shot from deep to give him the record and tie a career-high.
Louisville cruised to a victory with a final score of 98-73.
Outracing the ponies
That’s now nine straight.
This 25-point win is now the Cards’ third 20-point win of 2025, and their seventh double-digit win on the current streak.
The Cards shot a respectable 31-of-67 from the field and made 19-of-42 from three, recording season highs in attempted and made threes. Louisville scored a mind boggling 1.44 points per possession.
Hepburn’s 16 assists set another program record for Louisville and were the most assists by an ACC player since Dennis Smith Jr. in 2016. Hepburn provided a trio of threes, as well, to add to his 13 points on the night, giving him a double-double.
Largely thanks to Hepburn, the Cards racked up a season high 27 assists. Louisville scored off an assist on 87.1% of made field goals Tuesday, an absolutely phenomenal mark.
Scott also had a stellar night, scoring a career-high 16 points that came via five dunks and the first made three of his career. Each of his seven made field goals come off of a Hepburn assist.
Hadley and Khani Rooths also had great nights, scoring 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Perhaps just as impressive as their offense, Louisville’s defense did an amazing job shutting down the conference’s highest scoring team.
Boopie Miller was held to seven points on 2-of-12 shooting and just one assist.
Louisville looks more and more poised to run the table throughout the regular season. They sit at 15-5 on the year and 8-1 in the ACC.
Photo Courtesy // SMU Athletics